American Socialism Revealed

There is a new saying going around the internet recently — in 1949, only socialism was able to save China; in 1989, only China was able to save socialism; and now in 2009, only China is able to save capitalism.

Across the ocean in the United States, the American magazine Newsweek has made an astonishing claim. In a February issue, an article declared that “we are all socialist now.” Is America a socialist country? Absolutely not. Do President Barack Obama’s reforms contain elements of socialism? Absolutely.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, opponents labeled Obama a “socialist.” Fidel Castro has called Obama “comrade,” and Hugo Chavez has even joked that they should work towards perfecting socialism together.

Obama’s reforms, including social protections and greater regulation of financial institutions, definitely have socialist characteristics. The United States government is now General Motors’ largest stock holder. This company, which used to be symbolic of the American capitalist spirit, is now an enterprise collectively owned by the government and the people.

Financial reforms have been similar. The United States wants to make the Federal Reserve into a “super regulator,” and strengthen all aspects of its regulation of large financial institutions. It also plans to establish a new consumer financial protection bureau, giving it even more rights to regulate financial institutions. The American magazine Foreign Affairs believes that this is the “prescription” Marx would have given. It was Marx himself who called for the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”

Even more socialist than Obama’s enterprise nationalization and stronger regulations are his proposed reforms to health insurance. The purpose is to give all Americans affordable health insurance. The means of attaining this are to establish a government controlled public health insurance plan which would compete with private health insurance plans. Obama has commented on this, saying that "part of the reason we want to have a public option is just to help keep the insurance companies honest,” and that he wanted to “make the health care market more competitive.” That is to say the United States government wants to create a society with universal health care. This is in sync with socialist ideas of ensuring everyone has food to eat and clothes to wear.

Of course, Obama’s health reforms are facing an unusually large resistance. This is because in the sphere of public and private health insurance, a lot of energy has gone into pushing for medical cost proliferation. A congressional majority is needed to overcome this force, and it seems almost impossible. The forces behind the proliferation and resistance to reform are medical and insurance circles and some major special interest groups.

To deal with these groups, starting June 10, Obama started a rigorous campaign reminiscent of the general election, where he has been holding a slew of town hall meetings. These meetings give ordinary people the chance to interact with government officials and have mobilized over two million grassroots supporters in fifty states, creating a national discussion.

Approaching the masses is a good way to make use of the people’s wisdom, an idea which was “patented” by socialist countries. President Obama is using this and finding it very handy. Apparently, whether it is a socialist country or a capitalist country, you must believe in the people and regard them as the foundation. Only then can your country become rich, powerful, and ultimately successful.

The leftist American publication The Nation has invited socialist-leaning progressives to comment on President Obama’s reform measures. Some have called on America to have a revolution, and others have directly said “capitalism is already dead.”

Obama himself does not feel this way, but regards himself as a liberal. Within the American political system there has always been a struggle between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives support “small government, big society,” while liberals put importance on the idea of “big government, small society”; conservatives act as the right wing, and liberals are left wing. Liberals leaning extremely to the left tend to like socialism. During America’s McCarthy era in the middle of the Cold War, leftist liberals suffered a lot of persecution. Therefore, being called a socialist generally is not very honorable.

Of course, the McCarthy era was short, and in most situations socialism is not taboo, and can now fundamentally be considered neutral. Marx’s work Das Kapital, which eschews capitalism, is required reading for many American high school students. After the Cold War, American academia systematically changed many textbooks, altering their ideological content.

That is to say, pragmatic Americans do not follow the beaten path on ideology. When looking at President Obama’s reforms, it is easy to think of what Deng Xiaoping said in the 1990s: “a market economy is not equal to capitalism. Just as capitalism uses plans, socialism can also utilize markets.” Now, America’s practices show that nationalization is not equal to socialism, and that capitalism can also utilize nationalization.

The biggest revelation from America’s new policies is that nothing is unique to only socialism or capitalism. Some ideas belong to all of human kind, and some values should be enjoyed by all people. It is like Premier Wen Jiaobao’s quote: “Democracy, legal systems, freedom, human rights, equality, universal fraternity, these are not the fruits of capitalism, but the contributions of all the world’s civilizations throughout our long history, and are the values that all of human kind should strive to attain.”